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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 293 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 293

 Calling for a free and fair presidential election in the Republic of 
                              Kazakhstan.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 27, 2005

 Mr. McCain (for himself, Mr. Biden, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Leahy, 
   Mr. Smith, Mr. Graham, and Mr. Lieberman) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Calling for a free and fair presidential election in the Republic of 
                              Kazakhstan.

Whereas the Republic of Kazakhstan is scheduled to hold a presidential election 
        on December 4, 2005;
Whereas Kazakhstan freely accepted commitments on democracy, human rights, the 
        rule of law, and other fundamental freedoms and rights when it joined 
        the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as a 
        participating state in 1992;
Whereas the United States supports the promotion of democracy and transparent, 
        free, and fair elections in Kazakhstan, consistent with that country's 
        OSCE commitments;
Whereas the OSCE declared that, while the 2004 parliamentary elections in 
        Kazakhstan reflected improvement over past parliamentary elections, the 
        election process ``fell short of OSCE commitments and other 
        international standards for democratic elections in many respects'';
Whereas the OSCE election monitoring mission documented a number of shortcomings 
        in the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan, including the government's 
        barring of 2 opposition leaders from running, a lack of transparency in 
        the work of the Central Election Commission, discrepancies in voter 
        lists, a lack of political balance in the composition of election 
        commissions, a strong media bias in favor of pro-presidential parties, 
        pressure placed on voters to support pro-presidential parties by local 
        government officials and workplace supervisors, and other shortcomings;
Whereas in April 2005, Kazakhstan amended its election law to ban political 
        demonstrations in the period between the end of election campaigns and 
        the announcement of official election results;
Whereas on September 9, 2005, President Nursultan Nazarbaev issued a decree 
        directing state authorities to undertake actions, which, if fully 
        implemented, could improve on many of the shortcomings found in previous 
        elections;
Whereas other elements of Kazakhstan's stated commitments to OSCE principles and 
        to fulfilling the goals of democracy remain unfulfilled;
Whereas there is currently no representation of the opposition in either the 
        Majilis or the Senate, the lower and upper houses of the Kazakh 
        Parliament, respectively;
Whereas some independent media exists in Kazakhstan, but self-censorship is 
        common due to fears of official reprisal;
Whereas the Department of State concluded in its Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices for 2004 that ``the [Kazakhstan] Government's human rights 
        record remained poor, and it continued to commit numerous abuses'';
Whereas a transparent, free, and fair presidential election process in 
        Kazakhstan would mark an important step in that country's progress 
        toward its integration into the democratic community of nations;
Whereas a genuinely free and fair election requires that citizens be guaranteed 
        the right and opportunity to exercise their civil and political rights, 
        free from intimidation, undue influence, threats of political 
        retribution, or other forms of coercion by national or local authorities 
        or others; and
Whereas a genuinely free and fair election requires government and public 
        authorities to ensure that candidates and political parties enjoy equal 
        treatment before the law and that government resources are not employed 
        to the advantage of individual candidates or political parties: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) calls on the Government of Kazakhstan to hold an 
        orderly, peaceful, free, and fair presidential election in 
        December 2005, in accordance with all Organization for Security 
        and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) guidelines;
            (2) calls upon the Government of Kazakhstan to guarantee 
        the full participation of opposition figures and parties in the 
        upcoming election, and to permit the return of political 
        exiles;
            (3) believes that it is vital that the December election be 
        viewed by the people of Kazakhstan as fully free and fair, and 
        that all sides refrain from violence or intimidation before, 
        during, or after election day;
            (4) calls upon the Government of Kazakhstan to guarantee 
        unimpeded access to all aspects of the election process for 
        election monitors from the Office for Democratic Institutions 
        and Human Rights of the OSCE, Kazakh political parties, 
        representatives of candidates, nongovernmental organizations, 
        and other private institutions and organizations, both foreign 
        and domestic;
            (5) urges the international community and domestic 
        nongovernmental organizations to provide a sufficient number of 
        election observers to ensure credible monitoring and reporting 
        of the December presidential election;
            (6) calls upon the Government of Kazakhstan to guarantee 
        freedom of speech and assembly; and
            (7) calls upon the Government of Kazakhstan to meet all of 
        its freely accepted OSCE commitments on democracy, human 
        rights, and the rule of law.
                                 <all>
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